Responses of soil-inhabiting mesostigmatid mites to deforestation and disturbance in oak (Quercus brontii) forests of southwestern Iran

Ali Bagheri-Kordeshami, Jahangir Khajehali, Farshid Nourbakhsh and Masoud M. Ardestani
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Ali Bagheri-Kordeshami: Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
Jahangir Khajehali: Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
Farshid Nourbakhsh: Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
Masoud M. Ardestani: Institute for Environmental Studies, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

Journal of Forest Science, 2021, vol. 67, issue 12, 562-569

Abstract: The impacts of deforestation on edaphic mesostigmatid mites were investigated in oak forests of Lordegan, southwestern Iran, from April to October. A total of twenty-one species belonging to eighteen genera and ten families were collected and identified. The Shannon-Wiener, Simpson, Jaccard's and Margalef biodiversity indices were used for data analyses. Among the collected species, Antennoseius bacatus with 29% and Sessilunchus hungaricus with 16% relative abundance were the most abundant and dominant species in human-disturbed and natural forests, respectively. The estimated values were higher in natural oak forest than in disturbed and cultivated habitat. Significant differences were observed in soil nitrogen content and soil organic carbon between the two habitats, but not in pH values. Significant effects of sampling time and habitat were found on all four indices, but the effect of their interactions on these indices was not significant. It can be concluded that the changes in soil quality that resulted from deforestation may have a major role in reducing the soil mite density and related diversity indices in disturbed forests.

Keywords: biodiversity; ecosystem changes; edaphic mites; land use; soil properties; Zagros woodlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnljfs:v:67:y:2021:i:12:id:54-2021-jfs

DOI: 10.17221/54/2021-JFS

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